This poem is taken from PN Review 233, Volume 43 Number 3, January - February 2017.
At Nam Yao & other poems
Eight Poems
The Flight from Meaning
I like difficult poets who tease you, difficult girls
Pulling their hair over their faces and running away.
Though this could get tiresome.
Soon it will be time to cycle through the rain to yoga.
I wish I was mysterious.
All I wanted was to be opaque and cryptic.
And later perhaps arcane.
Who wants a Delphic oracle who says what she means?
I left Church as they prayed in English.
And went to Roman mass till I learnt Latin
And had to go to the next street, where mass was in Polish.
When I began to understand a few words of that language
I left for a guru who gave me a meaningless sound.
When that suggested a wave on a tropical beach
I had to leave and go to yoga classes.
...
I like difficult poets who tease you, difficult girls
Pulling their hair over their faces and running away.
Though this could get tiresome.
Soon it will be time to cycle through the rain to yoga.
I wish I was mysterious.
All I wanted was to be opaque and cryptic.
And later perhaps arcane.
Who wants a Delphic oracle who says what she means?
I left Church as they prayed in English.
And went to Roman mass till I learnt Latin
And had to go to the next street, where mass was in Polish.
When I began to understand a few words of that language
I left for a guru who gave me a meaningless sound.
When that suggested a wave on a tropical beach
I had to leave and go to yoga classes.
...
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